The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 186: A Difference in Quality

Rainer took in gasping breaths, partly in pain, partly in checking to make sure the air here wouldn’t kill either of his two grandfathers with him.

Before he could even ask for their help, Rainer was back on the ground. Pain surged through his body as the dreadful High Elf used his Avatar’s Soul as a medium. His [Soul Sheath] was useless to defend. It was a dangerous backdoor. Rainer had grossly underestimated just how open his cut off pieces of Soul would be to an expert in the subject matter.

Hours passed as the two old Mages by his side assisted him. His memories were safe but his defenses only grew weaker and weaker. Rainer thought the High Chancellor—at least that’s who he suspected this Soul Mage to be—would have run out of gas by now, but Rainer could feel him recover as the High Elf borrowed the strength of the 3rd Tier High Elves around him. He had access to a half dozen 3rd Tier Souls as batteries.

Trying to survive through attrition was a fool's goal. Rainer’s eyes narrowed as he realized his only option. He buckled over with pain, his mind momentarily going blank before he came to again. All he could do was use [Arcane Awakening] and [Arcane Invigoration] to barely keep himself going. He couldn’t even command an Avatar to go and attack the High Elf from afar.

“Art,” Rainer said through gritted teeth, taking out a vial from his ring. Their experiments with the essence of a Soul Dragon hadn’t yet produced a firm success. But that was partly because the entire process simply went longer than the time he could stay in [Sleep Learning]. Even when he extended it. As his Soul surged in pain again and Rainer had to give up a random memory to the attacker, he steeled his resolve.

Only a qualitative change to his mind and Soul could help him now. The red-head nodded and took the vial along with the ring to retrieve several dozen other seemingly random resources. Some Dungeon based, others bought in the City of Wealth, and a final grouping from Earth. He even seemed to use some of the drugs Francis had swiped from the pharmacy back when he ran from the Divinity Augost.

Rainer felt the defenses of his mind grow weaker and weaker as his Soul was continually torn and pushed. It took all his other grandfather had to keep him conscious. Especially now that he was alone. Had Rainer not gone to this random plane, there likely would already be High Elves gathering to attack them. With a quick thought, Rainer had his other two Avatars burn their Souls.

[Arcane Invigoration] quickly restored his Soul to a higher strength and size, only missing the piece currently captured by the Soul Mage. It helped, but the attacks only grew stronger soon after. There seemed to be more 3rd Tiers there offering the strength of their Souls.

What was only minutes of Art’s preparation of the essence seemed like hours to Rainer. As his grandfather walked over with the needle, Rainer removed his [Overcoat of Arcane Constitution] as well as his [Arcane Necklace of Combat]. His skin was tough enough on its own, let alone with enhancement.

He dropped [Arcane Awakening] for the briefest moment as a needle enchanted to a sharpness and strength beyond the magical metal it was made of stabbed into his skin. The black substance combined with the Soul Dragon’s essence poured out of the simple plastic container on the back of the needle and surged into Rainer’s body.

With Art helping him defend his mind and Soul yet again, and his Soul bolstered from his retrieved Avatars, Rainer spared enough attention to merge the essence into his body. Arcane and Void surged as it kept the draconic essence within him tamed, and he mimicked the method of monsters to absorb the essence.

Slowly but surely his body changed, and then his Soul followed.

Rainer roared in pain as a wave of force, seemingly coming from his very Soul, exploded outwards, leveling the strange twisted trees around them and sending both his grandfathers back. Given their otherwise weak physical strength, if it hadn’t been for their magically altered bodies, they would have perished.

Within the depths of his Soul, only barely contained by the Arcane and Void within his Soul, was the flickering memory of a Soul Dragon. Perhaps no more intelligent than the broken Souls floating around the Dragon Isles, it was hardly less fierce.

Scales erupted from Rainer’s arms and platinum wings grew from his back, tearing his shirt, only to then burn in a ghastly pale flame before decaying and falling off. Rainer’s eyes widened as the pain and changes ripping through his body threatened to send his mind retreating into unconsciousness and likely death, a fate only avoided by the Soul-deep pain coming from his Avatar’s stolen Soul and the Soul Mage’s misguided entanglement with the Dragon’s attack. To the only semi-sentient broken Soul, the powerful High Elf became the greatest threat.

He had memorized much of the information the City of Wealth had freely available. It was considered common knowledge that no material of a Dragon was truly from a Dragon. They were all System and Dungeon given rewards. Whether they were lesser for it, no one seemed to be sure. And if they were lesser, no one seemed to know either if the system did it on purpose or it was simply a limitation of the Dungeon.

But Rainer knew now for certain, as his Draconically changed Soul let him ironically see, that the essence was tainted with a tiny broken and hidden Soul of a true Dragon. A broken Soul that now merged with his own Soul. This was no Dungeon reward. And harbored within it a resentment that almost seemed to carry physical form. Rainer dug his fingers into the hard rock beneath him as scales grew all across his body, grimacing in pain as some of them burned with that same ghastly flame.

He too had read about the so called legendary ‘weakness’ of Dragons: their reverse scale. And looking at his arms, he was sure, the Dragon was changing him as punishment into a being covered in such scales. And all the pain and suffering that came with their destruction—pain enough to drive even the most docile Dragon berserk—and that was only from a single scale. Should he fail to suppress this broken Dragon Soul, Rainer wouldn’t be surprised if he became a sentient lump of reverse scales, doomed to spend whatever was left of his life in agony.

Two ancient existences fought in his Soul, both unaware that they were not enemies of the other. Rainer took a deep breath, ignoring the pain coursing through his body and Soul, and focused on transforming himself safely.

Minutes turned to hours, and Rainer slowly but surely altered his Soul and body in a way that retained his humanity. He could feel the High Chancellor backing away, and the broken Soul of the Dragon quickly turned his attention back to him.

Rainer’s eyes bulged in pain as he felt an itching on his forehead. A deadly creature far surpassing him seemed to be looking inwards, a Dragon of the Soul judging and sentencing him to pain and death. He couldn’t let the High Chancellor give up. He needed him to fight.

He no longer hid the important memories. He pretended to weaken to the assault, showing the High Elf images of his 2nd Tier Trial Unicorn, disguised as a glimpse of the Forbidden Land. He showed the sentient flame of the Forbidden South. While he could almost feel the interest shown, it wasn’t enough.

Rainer grit his teeth and finally showed Nalmar. Starting from the quest that showed the ???? reward, the conversation with Gunthar about it being the Mana-Well followed. Power surged, and Rainer felt a force far greater than before try and tear through his Soul. The Dragon instinctively responded to the threat.

He held nothing back, showing himself gaining the title of Defier and grasping the Mana-Well as he borrowed the power of Gods to steal it away. Rainer quickly snapped back, making it seem like an accident. And his defenses were up again. A tired and sweating Frederick supported him once more as Art dealt with natives who seemed to want their heads.

Slowly but surely, under the unintentional help of the High Chancellor, Rainer started his path on becoming something many powerful Mages across the universe could only dream of. His Soul grew stronger and stronger. He ventured he wasn’t far from the vaunted 3rd Tier border. At least in terms of Soul size of a lesser 3rd Tier.

[Talent Gained: Low Soul Affinity]

Power surged through his Soul as it was altered further. It seemed to shrink back in size, its quality upgrading.

[Talent Gained: Low Draconic Mana Regeneration]

His once nearly emptied pool of Mana started to recover faster, doubling in its speed. The battle was winding down, and the resentful broken Dragon Soul was nearly out of gas. It was, in the end, still a part of Rainer. Now that it was so weak, he forcefully had the Dragon Soul use [Soul Presence] and [Soul Consolidation] as he unsheathed his Soul, and temporarily stunned the High Chancellor with a raw attack of Soul.

The Dragon Soul seemed to fade to nothingness, and Rainer used his new control over his Soul to burn the distant captured Avatar Soul. He only had control over it in the first place due to the passive [Soul Perseverance].

His Avatar Soul’s changed strength seemed to still exist as he recovered the last missing piece of his Soul with [Arcane Invigoration]; it altered Rainer’s Soul further, improving its quality once more. He ventured a use of [Soul Presence] and [Soul Consolidation] now might increase his total strength by even 80% with all the improvement.

Rainer let out a long breath as his body surged in pain. He may have protected his Soul, but his body was a disfigured mess of scales and otherwise. But, it was only temporary. He learned from Amer’s loss of his arm and his own scar on his face, that the Soul partially acted as a blueprint for the body. It would be a painful process, but he would regrow and look no different than a ordinary Human.

Every movement of his body was agony, and Rainer gave up trying to stand from his prone position on the ground.

“What’s going on?” Rainer mumbled out with a grating voice as his upper teeth curved into his lower ones. He cried out in pain as Frederick looked over to Art dealing with what seemed to be angry locals. The man had captured one of them and quickly raided his mind to learn the language, earning him no points in their favor.

“Locals. Likely investigating what has happened here,” Frederick answered, the worry on his face clear.

“It’ll be painful, but I’ll be fine. My Soul is Draconic, but still Human.” The antagonistic Arcane and Void in his body seemed to be far calmer than usual. While he had no plans to do so just yet, it was likely his now partially Draconic Human buffer was strong enough to support him in the next step to a [Strong Void Affinity]. Further progress would likely require him to improve his Draconic Half with essence, but that would certainly be done in [Sleep Learning] first. And after thoroughly checking he only used system-made essence.

Rainer briefly looked at his race, figuring it was about time he got a penalty for what he was. It was likely not only the Draconic changes but the Arcane and Void ones adding on to it.

[Human: Denotes one as a member of the Human race, giving them the Talent: Human Growth and the base attributes of a Human of their age and ability. Impurity Penalty: -10% Experience Gained.]

[Intelligence +1]

He could feel his body and mind changing as the effects of his Draconically altered Soul settled.

“What should we do about them?” Frederick asked.

Rainer suddenly howled in pain before descending the Void on them as another tooth suddenly grew and stabbed into his lower jaw. The after effects didn’t quit disappear with the broken Dragon Soul.

“Leave or die,” he growled out, the strange looking Humans fully understanding him. They only inched forward, the 2nd Tiers among them tightly grasping their weapons as they prepared to attack.

“Kill them all,” Rainer said disinterestedly. He was in far too much pain to care about it anymore.

A toothless Rainer hissed in pain as Kara ripped another scale off his back. Raw pink flesh and then pale skin quickly grew underneath as he healed himself. There was little he could do other than damage himself to heal back to normal. The final revenge of this Dragon was by far the worst pain he ever felt. The idea of a reverse scale seemed to be true.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” Rainer muttered, regrowing his teeth slowly but surely. They came out Human, if far tougher. And the itch was unbearable. “So why does mine only come with pain?”

“What was that?” Kara asked and a hiss of pain from Rainer soon followed as she ripped off another scale.

“A saying from Earth, it’ll take a while to explain,” Rainer said, looking resentfully over his shoulder as Kara chuckled. Despite her joking mood, she couldn’t hide the redness or tears at the corner of her eyes. He was happy she was pretending to have fun for him. It oddly made it hurt less.

“We have only time,” she drawled, looking at the hundreds of platinum scales that covered his back alone. Along with a single, sad looking wing.

Rainer explained the saying, only pausing when he needed to expel a variety of sounds. Kara interrupted him halfway through.

“Promise me you won’t send off another Avatar until not even a God could capture your Soul?” Kara suddenly asked, following the ripping of another scale.

“I promise,” Rainer said through fully regrown and gritted teeth and then continued his explanation, having had that thought in any case. While this had turned into an eventually happy accident, he dreaded thinking just what a Divinity could do with his Avatar’s Soul. He had truly been playing with fire thus far.

There would be no more visits to Alvra until he could sacrifice his Avatar in an instant, Soul and all.

Kara suddenly gave a long sigh as Rainer finished his explanation of his joke.

“To think, just yesterday we were a young couple in love, and now you have already fallen to madness.”

“Luna thinks it’s sad as well,” the Fairy chimed in. She had tried to help with scale removal only for her flame to produce a far more painful result, and was now laying in his hair. “Don’t worry Rainer. Luna will take care of you.”

Rainer shook his head as Kara laughed behind him.

“I’ve had enough of your giggling,” Rainer exclaimed in faux rage, spinning around as he pinned both Kara and her Aura with [Void Hold]. The addition of [Soul Presence] and [Soul Consolidation], along with his higher quality and Draconically altered Soul made it nearly double in power. For the unprepared Demon, she was helpless even if without Aura she technically had enough strength to resist.

Kara could only helplessly moan and ask for ‘mercy’ as he played with her wolven ears all he wanted.

“Luna will help,” the Fairy said, causing Kara to smile, only to feel betrayed as Luna helped Rainer rather than her.

“Should I come back later?” Gunthar, who just walked into the room, asked with a long sigh. He mumbled a prayer under his actual breath—created by the [Devil King] Soul he partially transformed into just for that effect—as he brought over the magically modified pain pills for Rainer. At least the Sorcerer had the good grace to look embarrassed for once.

The modified pain pills had lowered the pain of the scale removal from ‘worst pain in his entire life’ to ‘barely better than if he trained [Soul Presence] without [Soul Sheath]s’. The Dragon truly had its revenge on he who profaned its corpse.

Rainer glanced over his naked body, a sleeping Kara and Luna in a bed not far away, noting that he was completely back to humanity, appearance wise at least. Other than the small scar he had gained on his face from a while ago, he was normal as usual. At least, he hadn’t checked for other physical changes other than making sure he was Human.

He sank into his Soul as he tried to discern the changes there. Other than the increase in quality it didn’t seem that much different. But he could feel memories that were not his at the edge of his mind. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before he could access the innate spells, at least the lesser ones, of a [Soul Dragon].

His body didn’t seem stronger but his blood contained far more magic. Not to mention the slight Draconic quality of it. Perhaps with [Arcane Invigoration] he might have an endless source of Draconic essence. It would truly be a funny thing if he could one day improve his bloodline and Soul by simply extracting his own blood. It would likely be best to redo Kara’s Body Enchantments on that note. Following a proper test of the effects.

Having already reached the limit, it took just a few minutes of running Arcane and Void through his body until he reached the next level of change. [Strong Void Affinity] along with another total 72 points in Strength and Constitution followed. He felt his Arcane Affinity change before falling dormant once more. He could feel he still wasn’t anywhere near the limit of his change.

[Intelligence +1]

His body underwent another natural enhancement from his Draconic part. That made 6 total Intelligence thus far. Unknowingly, Rainer’s pupils temporarily changed into slits before returning to normal as he gazed at the Mana-Well in his hands.

The Zan now know of it…

Currently lacking Avatars, he was keeping it on hand.

The rage of having his mind and Soul violated had cooled considering the aid he was given. But now it came back in full force. The air crackled as a memory came to mind and unspeakable pressure spread out around him. The memory faded, as Rainer was just moments away from learning whatever draconic magic was at the edge of his mind.

Who was the prey and who was the hunter…? A single battle wouldn’t be enough to decide it. Rainer stared at the Mana-Well a few minutes longer before tucking it away.

He went to bed soon after, having much to do in [Sleep Learning].

Moments after the Dragon Soul was burned in Rainer’s body, the High Chancellor of Zan roared in anger as he fell to the ground, and the Soul in his grasp vanished. A 3rd Tier Duke of Zan by his side suddenly howled in pain as his body contorted and scales covered his body.

His anger fading as if it were but an illusion, Zan-Har quickly rushed over to the now berserk 3rd Tier. He used a magic of Soul and Illusion, making the noble High Elf believe he was pinned down by an indefinable weight.

He had seen more than just the bait given and his powerful mind quickly deduced what had happened. How many Mages didn’t have a dream of attaining the power of the ultimate beast of Mana?

That he had been used only dimly registered and instead he stared at the quickly corrupted 3rd Tier High Elf in front of him. The broken Dragon Soul had used the last of its strength to jump to one of his assistants and was now taking him over.

What a useful test subject… The High Chancellor thought to himself.

“S-sir?” one of the 3rd Tier Zan tapped Zan-Har on his shoulder.

“What!?” The once more angry Soul Mage spun around, his eyes flashing with slitted pupils before returning to normal.

“Do you require aid?” the Marquis of Zan gulped and changed his mind. Far be it for him to anger the High Chancellor further by suggesting he save the Duke.

“No. But speed up our exploration of the Forbidden Lands, I’ll prepare what we need for 3rd Tiers to enter. But it’ll take time. Call for the Crown Prince as well.”

“But…” The Crown Prince was the publically named and strongest High Elf in line to the throne. He was a 2nd Tier who regularly made jokes of their farm raised 3rd Tier. And an apprentice of the High Chancellor. Only his great strength of Soul delayed him from reaching the 3rd Tier already, at a very young 110 years of age. To risk his life here… the Emperor would...

“Now!” the High Chancellor barked before storming off, ‘prize’ in hand. Rainer was wrong about one thing. While the Mana-Well deeply interested the Chancellor and forced him into what he knew was a trap, the scenes from the Forbidden Land were only a single step down in importance. Neither were things he could take lightly.

“Your will be done,” Zan-Tuyi said with a deep bow, giving a look a pity to the scale-covered and raving mad once proud 3rd Tier as he was dragged away like a child throwing a tantrum. Inwardly shaking and deciding to pass on the duty of summoning the Crown Prince to someone else, Zan-Tuyi wandered off.